Greek Christmas Cookies

Tis the Christmas season with some old fashioned Greek butter cookies!

Every year I make Christmas cookies  for my family and friends in the neighborhood.  I always make the same ones every year, Kourambiedies (Greek butter cookies).  I got the recipe from my cousin Sonia (who has a large family and large circle of friends). The first year I followed the recipe precisely and I ended up by the oven all day making dozens after dozens of cookies!  Since then I have cut the recipe in half and now the  make about 6 or 7 dozen, just enough for my family and friends!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Place

         As this semester comes to a close, we had one final painting to create. Each person randomly picked a word out of a bag and had to create something that represented that word.  I got Place. Place is pretty easy, I could have chosen any "place"  to paint. I however, decided to go a slightly different route of "place".  If your in San Antonio, and it's dusk you can hear them in the trees and across the electrical liens, especially if your at a red light on a corner of any HEB. Some people call them trash birds, others think their evil.  Me, I personally find them beautiful and beautifully social!   My painting is called "Evening Social" and the main character is the Grackle.

As you can see all his friends are waiting for him to join them up on the wire!

Christmas cooking!

       I love cooking during the holidays!  Christmas cookies and treats! Special lunches and dinners for get together's!
      Every year my son's Tae Kwondo school hosts a pot luck Christmas party. This year I was more than enthused to participate! So this morning I got up at 5am and put out frozen Rhodes rolls so they can defrost and rise.  Then a few hours later I started chopping onions, pepper, garlic and cooking Italian sausage.

My contribution this year was Italian sausage & peppers along with dinner rolls.

I usually make my sausage and peppers with marinara sauce but I thought  the sauce always covered the beautiful colors of the peppers. I searched the internet and BAM! I found an easy recipe that had 5 star reviews and looked very tasty! Here's the link if your interested in the recipe.  It turned out REALLY good! (Of course I tasted before I take it to the party! :))

Easy Italian Sausage & Peppers Recipe


Here's my pictures from this morning:

 Rolls rising

 Rolls done!

 Sausage cooking

Sausage & peppers done!

I can't wait until my daughter comes home for Christmas break so we can start cook all the sugary treats of the holidays!

November

        October flew by and November is more than half gone.  I've neglected to post anything on my blog, not because I didn't want too, but because I had nothing to say.  The classes that I have been taking this semester are coming to a close. I've learned new things and I was kept very busy. The supplies for the classes are simple and easy to store, paper, pencils, paints & brushes, unlike my glass.   I have already signed up for spring classes, but my heart keeps telling me to do something else....work on my glass.

         With the holidays coming up, all my glass supplies and tools have yet again been packed up nice and neat and put away out of sight. I dream of having some studio space just to create glass art without having to climb over bicycles, move lawn mowers and other items stored in front of my work table.I want a space somewhere I don't have to deal with the heat during the hot summer days, the mosquitoes in the evenings and the cold in the winter, granted it feels like its 80 degrees today, but I want somewhere I can open the door (and close it), go inside and forget the world while my imaginations takes over.

I think I will be looking for my own space in the spring.........  

Favorite New Artist- Anne Nye

After I finished writing my blog post yesterday, I went on my reading list of blogs that I follow and was really intrigued by an article that Cathy Milligan posted on her blog from http://glassart.craftgossip.com/.  The article that was really good about business in the art industry, but when I actually Googled the artist that wrote the article, I was blown away!!!  Artist  Anne Nye  combines her fine art background using paints and glass. The results are just amazing!  Hope you check her art out!

2nd month into the Fall semester

I started the fall with a couple of classes at the local community college, painting 1 and art appreciation.

Learning to use a paintbrush versus glass cutting tools has proven to be a bit more of a challenge than I expected.  Yes, if I don't like something on my painting I can always cover it up with more paint., but lights and shadows were never an issue in glass.  To look at ordinary objects and create a picture of the lines, colors, and shadows to represent the objects  proves to be a lot harder than I thought it would be.

So from the beginning of the semester, every painting I've brought home, I've rolled up and stuck in the corner of my room.  Today I decided that I'm taking this class as a learning process, so in the long run I hope to apply some of the techniques I'm learning onto glass. (somehow)

This evening I decided to unroll my paintings and show the world (or at least my peeps that look at my blog;)  Yes, I will roll them back up and stick them back in the corner, but I feel productive and am learning something new.

At least the art appreciation class is teaching me how to look at a painting and appreciate art.

October = Halloween!

I love the month of October!

October brings the cool crisp clean air & one of my favorite holidays, Halloween!

To me, Halloween represents just good old  fun! This is the only day of the year that one can dress up and be whatever they want to be! No matter how old you are! I start celebrating the month of October by watching all  my favorite Halloween movies like Practical Magic, Hocus Pocus, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Addams Family, Corpse Bride, and some other non-gory Halloween movies. I also indulge in the old black and white horror movies like Frankenstein, Dracula and the Werewolf, but nothing more scary than that.

During the first week of every October, I decorate my house, inside and out (more on the inside than out:). I add one or two things to my decorations every year. This year I decided to paint a Halloween picture to go over my mantel.

16"x 20"

I can't wait till the 31st, so I can dress up, play the Monster Mash Party CD, while I pass out (and eat ) some god candy!!!  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

the season of Fall

I'm really enjoying the "cooler" weather if one can call it that.  At least it's not in the triple digits anymore, so I'm happy! The last few weeks have been pretty interesting for me as I try to learn how to paint with acrylics, and learn how to appreciate art.

I'm not that great at painting and I really don't see myself as a painter, but it is fun!  The art appreciation class has opened my eyes to the way I actually look at art, and since I always thought of myself as a glass "Artist", this really comes in handy. Even though I have taken workshops, over the years I've tried to become  my own "original" type of artist. With this class, I came to realize I have no real clue about art, which put me at a great disadvantage.  My pursue in these classes is more beneficial than I ever thought they could be.  I look forward to Fall turning into Winter as my mind absorbs all that I'm learning.

On another note, I haven't put away my glass, my kiln is getting hot right now as the new palette for a fellow student is currently fully fusing in there. This time it's a Longhorn (per her request of course:)   A few years back I purchased a Bullseye stricker glass that has a hue of a dark yellow, which is supposed to tun into a deep orange....I hope it turns out that way.

I am also working on my stained glass window that I had hoped to finish by the end of last July, but hoping doesn't work by itself.... No deadlines for myself, just working on it one weekend and one piece at a time.

Happy Fall everyone!

functional glass art to create art!!!

The cooler air is here and even though the high's were in the 90's, it was such a relief to wake up to cooler temperatures and low humidity!

It was pleasure to work in the garage this weekend with the fan going and watching all the interesting little bugs that were out and about.  I really didn't think about taking pictures until this large beautiful Tiger Swallowtail butterfly landed on my hibiscus flowers and was feeding long enough for me to run in and get the camera.

Now while all the action was outside with the butterflies and interesting bugs, I was cutting Bullseye Tetka glass into 11" diameter circles for a couple my fellow students.

During our first painting class (with acrylics), the instructor told us the easiest material to use as a palette to mix colors is glass.  He had created a palette from a picture frame glass, that included a sheet of white paper between the glass and a card-broad backing, taped along the edges with electrical tape. I followed his instructions and I created this palette. It was very functional and easy to use, but not easy to clean. By the time I completed my first painting, the cardboard was wet and soggy and so was the white paper.  I would have to find more card board and re tape everything....  not working for me.

So I went home and thought about how I can make this painting class easier for me.  Well, that's when I came up with creating my own palette by fusing two 11" diameter circles of Bullseye Tetka glass and adding a little "flower art" to it. Easy to use, easy clean and not bad to look at either:).  So this weekend, upon the request from a couple of my fellow students, who were having the same issues, I created 2 more palettes (with their favorite colors!).  I hope they enjoy using them as much as I do.

Time of change

I don't have any cute pictures to post or new art projects to talk about.  Today I've decided to make a few changes in my world.  I have closed my (stagnate) website, closed my "business" with the state and deleted my listings from my Etsy shop. I didn't create, push or pursue enough of anything to create a real business. Today, I felt that I needed to make these changes for myself so I can continue to grow in my own world and make myself happy.

Currently, my oldest son, who will be graduating college in December, plans to move out of state to "find" himself, as many of us do at his age:)  My daughter, is entering her freshman year of college and just moved into her new dorm room this weekend.  My youngest son is 16 and is entering his junior year of high school come Monday.  For now, his plans include going to an out of state college (that will all depend on scholarships & if he gets any:)

My youngest doesn't keep me as busy as my daughter did, so I too will be starting classes this coming week. My classes are not about learning and pursuing a "new" career, but to expand my mind intellectually, and my creative side as well.  I'm not sure just where all of this will lead me, but I do know it will lead me somewhere.    

 Time is always in motion and nothing ever stays the same.   It is my time of change.........

  

Up-cycled T's

It's always nice to find something to do with the old clothes that your children no longer want but will use if you get creative with them.

Every year before school gets ready to start, I ask my kids to go through their clothes and bag the clothes they have grown out of to make room for new school clothes.  We usually donate the old clothes, but this year since my daughter is getting ready to leave for college I knew that she was going to "bag" some clothes that she felt she was too "old" to wear.  Before sending everything off to the donation bin I went through the clothes and picked out her favorite t-shirts she wore in high school and made some small "comfort" pillows. 

When she saw what I was making, she just fell in love with them! I ran out stuffing as she was choosing more t-shirts she wanted me to make into pillows!  She's even having me make some for her friends too!

The worn cotton t-shirts and the fluffy stuffing are so soft that it makes them not only comfortable but huggable as well!  We're planning on adding pom-pom's to all the pillows!

  

Seahorse & Kitty cat bowls

It's amazing that the summer months are flying by so fast.  There so much left to do and so little time to do it in.
When I started my dichro pendants this year, (seahorses & starfishes) I thought I wanted to keep them simple and go the traditional route of putting plain bails on them or wire wrap them.  Neither of those ideas worked out for me, so I am back to placing little charms on the back of my pendants. I guess that's just me.

So today I'm shipping out my first seahorse with a little dolphin charm attached to it and a couple of the cat bowls to some feline family members on the east coast.

Diamond in the rough shines bright today!!!

Back in May I mentioned that I bought a $5.00 solid wood coffee table from a garage sale. It was neglected, scratched up, chewed in some places and it looked like it was ready for the trash!! Well I could see past all the damage and took it home. Over the past few weekends I spent time sanding, fixing and finally stained it.


Now it's MY new beautiful solid wood coffee table! 


I am thinking of adding some glass art to the sides of the table.  When I come up with a design that I think will compliment it, I will be adding it! 

He's enjoying them!

My follow up of the up-cycled TopoChico bottles turned to drinking glasses seems to be a success!

Here are the pictures that were sent to me.

I think I'll be up-cycling a little more!

TopoChico

I finally bought my tile water saw, put it together yesterday and used it today!

This is my first up-cycle project and was pretty pleased with the way it came out.  I love drinking TopoChico spring water and so does a friend of mine who, even when not drinking the water, wanted glasses made from TopoChico bottles so he could use them for beer. I was happy to help him out!

I used the water saw to cut the bottles then hand beveled the glasses for a smooth edge.

 I hope he enjoys them!!!!

Kitty Cat food bowls

Who deserves some creative glass art? My Kitty Cats of course!!! I worked on three small food bowls, for my three cats, Tiger, Jake and Little Kitty (she's really not that little but she is little compared to the other two!)

 The yellow and orange bowl remind me of kibbles and the green bowl has a wavy edge perfect for the prissy little kitty.

                                              Jake's bowl with a dark kitty paw print corner.

                                            Tiger's bowl with a light paw print in the corner.

Little Kitty's bowl with a yellow paw print on the edge.

Jake

Tiger

Little Kitty (she's a messy eater :))

I think all three of them like there bowls!  

On a more serious note, I recently found out from a friend of mine that cat's can be allergic to plastic and break out with kitty acne around there mouth/face.  I have been a cat lover & owner all of my life and never heard of this. A few weeks ago I had purchased a cute small plastic bowl from the grocery store and started feeding Little Kitty from it and the top of her nose completely broke out and I thought some kind of bug had gotten to her.  I was wrong, she was allergic to the plastic bowl.  As soon as I threw it away she started to clear up almost immediately. From now on I'll make them their bowls from glass!

Working on it!

A couple of weekends ago I was in Austin and had the opportunity to stop by Helios Glass Studio and take a look around.  They had a great selection of glass and supplies and the atmosphere was very laid back and nice. I wouldn't mind going back up to Austin for there open studio! Since I didn't really need any fusing supplies, I went right next door to Artisan Stained Glass and they had the most beautiful colors of glass!  After much debate I picked out a couple of sheets of glass for the birds in my stained glass window and the gentleman that was there cut the glass to the size I needed.  I was very pleased with my selection and couldn't wait to see what my birds were going to look like with the combination of colors I selected.  I think that's the funnest part, picking out colors of glass!  

I finally got around and did some work on the stained glass window. I finished all the clear background over the past few weekends and today I finished cutting three of the six birds. I still need to define the feathers, and put eyes on them.  At least I'm working on it!

Slowly but surely

It was nice waking up really early and thinking about what I want to do instead of what I need to do.

I didn't need to be anywhere in particular this morning and since I already purchased the glass and drew out my patterns earlier in the week, I got up and cut glass for a couple of hours.  I finished all the leaves! I also have enough glass to finish the background but I don't want to rush.  I'm enjoying this project and I'm not in a hurry to get it done, even though I would like to have the window completed and hanging up some time in July. This project has been in the works for a very long time and it's one of those projects that done for pure enjoyment.  When I'm working on it  It's the most amazing feeling when I cut the glass, I lose all sense of time and it's just pure bliss, (unless I cut myself, of course :)).

Here's a few pictures of my progress.    

I can't wait till I start cutting the colorful birds!